stephanie, that is a haboob car you have. >> what is a haboob. >> haboob is the word of the day. >> we're lost in a mighty haboob. >> why do you keep saying haboob. >> say it again, elliott, i know you love to say it. >> i love the guy who's like, right! . here comes the ed show, i'm sorry. good evening, americans and welcome to the ed show, tonight from new york, rush limbaugh has politicized the death of a little girl. he says democrats don't care about dead children. what a sick dude. his party's sick policies are cheating millions of children out of succeeding in this country. that's the ed show. >> without this amendment minnesota could have gay

marriage imposed on us. >> michele bachmann is surging in the new hampshire polls, despite today's new details of her anti-gay agenda. i'll talk about it with michelle goldberg and mike rodgers. >> did she come at you? >> in wisconsin, david prosser is still on the bench even though he's accused of choking his colleague. tonight there are new calls for him to step aside. senator james inhofe of oklahoma is literally above the law. he's playing games with the faa and tonight i'm calling him out. >> great to have you with us tonight. right wing talkers, you see what they will do? they will use any story possible. to make the democrats look evil. rush limbaugh is at the top of the list. the worst of the worst. today he used the casey anthony story to launch a shameful attack against liberals. >> some of the hosts of the cable news shows -- what i don't

understand about it is, they're all card carrying liberals. when does the death of a child bother them? this is about -- i've never seen them get so upset over the death of a child. if the child had died two years earlier in the womb this woman would be a star, a hero. folks, i don't think that's a cliche to say. >> slow day of show prep? garbage spews from him every day. and information voters love the entertainment of it. they eat it up. republicans also claim that, you know, they are the party of life. and they prove time and again that they don't really give a [ bleep ] about you after you're born. republicans voted to repeal health care for kids with pre-existing conditions. they cut food stamps, public education, child nutrition programs, head start, the list goes own and on. and every american has a right to public education, this is one

of the great foundations of america, when the doors open, everyone's welcome, the gifted, the challenged, the rich, the poor. that's what public education has always done for america. how about some safe water -- safe food and clean water. does that work? do they have a right to pursue a great job? those are the rights democrats fight for every day, including the children, rush. republicans, you see have been on this nonstop 30-year mission to murder the american dream by protecting only the rich. >> congress isn't going to approve hundreds of billions of dollars in tax hikes. it's simply not going to happen. >> let me be as clear as i know how. we're not for raising taxes through the front door or the back door. we think that would make unemployment worse. >> we understand history. increasing taxes on job producers is not going to give us more of it. >> we think it would make the job market worse.

we think, it's a theory, it's a theory that we tried that didn't work. the debate is over. republican economic policy has been a complete failure. the job creators have now more money in their pockets than ever before. and america still has record unemployment and how many in assets sit on the sidelines they won't invest? senate democrats are making what we could call a mild effort to tax millionaires, tomorrow democrats plan to introduce a nonbinding sense of the senate resolution. no shared sacrifice. the resolution states, it is is the sense of the senate, that any agreement to reduce the budget deficit should require that those earning a million dollars or more per year make a more meaningful contribution to the deficit reduction effort. republicans of course are laughing at the idea.

>> it's the sense of the senate. we're supposed to have legislation in place by august 2nd to deal with raising the debt limit and all of that. that's got to be real numbers, real figures. so i guess we can say that we'll begin to talk about something pathetic response. >> republicans have no idea what the american people want. but, of course, they spew other stuff. how about this? a new poll of swing state voters shows nearly 80% want to increase taxes on millionaires. now, the same poll shows that 76% of voters in ohio oppose cutting spending on medicare, 77% of missouri voters, 71% in montana, and 69% of minnesotans feel exactly the same way. i mean, folks, those are a massive majority of purple state

voters who are really done with this republican plan of we think it will stymie the economy if we raise taxes on the rich folk. democrats need to hammer the righties with these numbers every day. it works. republicans need -- kind of like shiny objects like maybe a casey anthony trial to distract the american people. the facts are not on their side. but for a guy like the drug sister to claim liberals don't care about the life of a 2-year-old, and the murder of a child is about as low as it gets, but you see, they'll stoop to anything to make their case. democrats have always fought for and wanted social and economic justice for all americans. and, of course, we talk about the income disparity in this country all the time. how can they be good for america? i really want any state representative or any state senator from any state in the union to come up to the board

and explain to me how this is good for america, these three basic charts that i put up there? nobody's taken me up on it. come on. republicans want everyone to suck it up. so that the rushies of the world can get their tax cuts. it's a theory, just remember that. every time you hear them say we can't raise taxes on the job creators, the job creators are the little guys. they're the small businesses who can go to the local banks and get a lone and be a risk taker in our economy. that's who creates the jobs. when you have tight credit, you're not going to have the little guy going to the bank trying to do the american dream. we have trillions of dollars of assets that aren't being utilized in our economy. we're all being hoodwinked by this republican plan to think that, hey, we can't raise taxes on the job creators. democrats need to stay strong on this, and they can't back down.

this is is the perfect time to do it on the heels of the ryan plan, because that's really who they are. they don't care even about kids. or the elderly or the students or the people that don't have the political clout. get your cell phones out, i want to know what you think. do republicans care more about helping children or helping millionaires? text a for children, b for millionaires to 622639 and you can always go to our blog at ed.msnbc.com. joining me tonight is dr. james peterson, directassociate professor of english at lehigh university. he joins us tonight from philadelphia. joining us in studio is david k. johnson a professor at syracuse university of law. thanks for being with me

tonight. >> thanks for having me. >> thank you for having me. >> are republicans doing anything to help children in these recession airy times? we're out of that now, and we have job creation the last 15 months. through it all, have the republicans come up with anything to help children? >> no. it doesn't seem, at least from a policy perspective that they care so much about kids. i mean, when we look at this situation, and david brooks said it best, that the deal the democrats put on the table is essentially a no-brainer, right? they want a 3 to 1 ratio of tax revenue to spending cuts. that's three times as much spending cuts as tax revenue. and these folks walked away from the deal. i think we need to reorder our understanding of the stimulus package. the stimulus came into place to plug holes that were left in our gaping economy as a result of the real estate implosion. and if you look at the short

term versus the long term effects of this, if we did not repair our economy in the ways in which democrats are proposing, what's going to happen, you're going to see after school care, other social services programs diminished. they want to eradicate the child care credit. the hours of 3:00 and 6:00 are the most vital hours for kids in terms of teenage pregnancy and other issues. >> the president continues to put out the olive branchs and have an aim yabl tone about it. can we expect anything from this meeting that's going to take place tomorrow? will there be any compromise that will be advantageous to americans? >> i don't think so. this is getting troubles. there's an assumption out there that the republicans will come around and have to settle so we don't default. i think we have to consider the real possibility that they're willing to submarine the entire

history of american dominance in the last 70 years or so in order to achieve a point. there's nowhere, if you think about it, they have made cutting taxes their sole issue. there's no idea of any other kind of building the country, i was in china last week, and you marvel at the roads they build, at the way that government sees the future. the republicans have painted themselves into a corner. and they have nowhere to go but to say more and more tax cuts, even if it means the country goes into much deeper trouble than it's in now. that will happen if we don't pay our debts. >> it's very clear that the republican party does not listen to people who don't have money. >> exactly. >> is that a bridge too far or -- >> no, that's pretty much the truth. they want everyone else to tighten their belts. poor folk, tighten your belts.

every social service has to tighten its belts, but they want to insulate -- the people you're calling job creators, they're not job creators, they're debt shufflers and ceo's of multinational corporations that outsource our labor force. in the end i have no idea how the republicans see we're going to move forward. >> it's a theory that's been played out before. economists from northeastern university have released this study that i find interesting. between the second quarter of 2009 and the fourth quarter of 2010, corporate profits captured 88% of the growth in real national income while aggregate wages and salaries accounted for only slightly more than 1% of the growth in real national income. i mean, doesn't -- how can americans not get this? >> i think americans do. the polls are showing that, the question they ask is, why is

president obama continuing to pursue this idea. >> it's like the last guy at the dance. >> he thinks we'll have this post partisan america where we'll get along. and he needs to recognize that he's got to be tough with these guys and say, you're putting the whole country at risk and distorting the economy on behalf of a very few people. >> doesn't that graph prove that tax cuts for the rich only do one thing? and that's help the rich people. >> the average moneys income is up 1% compared to 1980. >> dr. peterson, where is the american middle class tonight and where are they going to be five years from now? >> well, tonight it's quickly eroding and five years from now, unless things drastically change, the middle class will not look at all as it looked as little as 20 years ago. to president obama's credit. we don't always like his approach to things, but the bottom line is, look at what he's dealing with, look at who

he has to deal with, and look at the radical rhetoric of the right that's paying homage to tax cuts. he's trying to get things done, but in this environment, it's fairly excruciating. you have commentators calling, using profanity to describe his attitude. >> your thoughts? >> well, i think that's a very good point. the fact is,we have a president who can do no right. even things he's done like the health care plan. not perfect, but a vast improvement over what we have are all seen as wrong. i had somebody today say to me, under obama we've doubled the federal debt. excuse me? that's not at all what's happened. president obama's first budget had a smaller deficit than george bush's last. had his policies been put in place, we would have shrinking federal budget deficits. >> that's right. >> dr. james peterson, david cay johnson, thanks for being with

me tonight. remember to answer the question at the bottom of the screen. we also want to know what you think all the time. president obama called out republicans for proposing spending plans for the nation's infrastructure. a new report shows many tough talking republicans aren't as anti-spending as they want you to believe. and if he were married to anyone else, he would just be your run of the mill bigot. why are the views of dr. marcus bachman mattering to all of us? naturals from purina cat chow. delicious, real ingredients with no artificial flavors or preservatives. naturals from purina cat chow. share a better life. the motorola expert from sprint. its powerful tools help you work faster and smarter so you can get back to playing "angry birds." it lets you access business forms on the go, fire off e-mails with the qwerty keypad, and work securely around the world

so you can get back to playing "angry birds." it's the android-powered phone that mixes business with pleasure. so let's get our work done, america, so we can all get back to playing "angry birds." the motorola expert from sprint. trouble hearing on the phone? visit sprintrelay.com.

there's no sure republican front-runner for the presidential nomination. the money continues to flow in as the fund-raising begs to differ. mitt romney raised 18 and$18 an quarter million in the past three months. that's more than $5 million shy of where he was at this time four years ago, but it's still

head and shoulders above the rest of the field. congressman ron paul took in $3.5 million in three months. tim pawlenty is even further lindh with 4.2 million and bringing up the rear is newt gingrich. his campaign is more than a million dollars in debt. there's one candidate who hasn't reported fund-raising totals as of yet. the candidate who is is the -- really now the number two in the polls in new hampshire. more on that candidate next. [ male announcer ] at nissan, we test the altima's durability on a track that simulates the world's toughest roads. ♪ [ tires screeching ] ♪ if it can survive this drive... ♪ it can survive yours. the nissan altima.

innovation that lasts. innovation for all. ♪ innovation that lasts. innovation for all. a lot of peo and those people are what i like to call wrong. take metamucil. sure it helps you keep regular, but it doesn't stop there. metamucil is the only leading fiber supplement with psyllium, which gels to help remove waste and reduce cholesterol. it can multi-multitask. it's so 2012. look at it! it's doing over a million different things right now. metamucil. ask more of your fiber.

she insists she's running for president of the united states not to be anyone's judge. that wasn't always the case as michele bachmann surges ahead in the polls, she now finds herself in striking distance of mitt romney, gaining double-digits in the last few months. part of bachman's appeal is her right wing social agenda. she's called same sex marriage, probably the biggest issue that will impact our state and our nation in the last, at least 30 years, she said. a recent washington post article details how far bachman will go to make her views known. a minnesota state senator said bachman would prey over his empty desk and warned him that promoting gay rights would lure kids into trying homosexuality out. bachman's views are in lock step

with the views of her key strategist and husband dr. marcus bachman. the health clinic he runs reportedly practices repairtive therapy, aimed at converting homosexuals into heterosexuals. in case you missed it, here's what he told a talk radio program just last year. >> we have to understand barbarians need to be educated. they need to be disciplined. and just because someone feels it or thinks it doesn't mean that we're supposed to go down that road. that's what's called the sinful nature. >> barbarians. joining me now is michelle goldberg, a senior contributing writer at "the daily beast" and mike rodgers. michelle, are there things that we don't know about michele bachmann that we're going to

find out? >> i think that we are slowly finding unite just how extreme both of them are and how rooted they are in a fundamentalist sub culture, but is probably not a minority among the republican party, it's foreign to much of the united states. some of this really vitriolic language they've used about gay people -- michele bachmann in one of her speeches in 2006 talked about melissa etheridge's breast cancer as perhaps an opportunity for her to rethink her sexuality and turn toward spiritual things. for many years, michele bachmann has built her career on gay bashing, basically, particularly on opposition to gay marriage. >> do you think she'll continue on this path now that she's getting on a higher level of visibility and her name recognition continues to grow? >> i think that she has nothing to gain by stressing that aspect of her ideology on the public stage.

there's absolutely no doubt that if god forbid she did become president of the united states, she would pursue that agenda vigorously. >> mike rodgers, you barbarian. what do you make of this, dr. marcus bachman. can he continue to play such a key role in her campaign with this kind of conversation taking place? what do you think? >> i don't think he will, and i think it's going to come back to bite him for a number of reasons, of course. his therapy center receives hundreds of thousands of dollars in public funding from medicare. so right there you have a disconnect between the candidate who doesn't believe in all of this, and here's her husband who's accepting all this public money to perform what he would call or folks would call ex-gay therapy. he acknowledges in that audio we don't act on these things.

we don't have to go on that road. who is we? that's what i'd like to ask him and say, what are you talking about, we? >> is this going to create a problem for the republican party? it would seem to me that other candidates who are in competition to get the nomination, seeing the surge that bachman is having may consider coming out talking against her position which is so radical and against the mainstream. >> we just saw a republican state senate hand marriage equality to the state. 19 million more people now eligible to get married, courtesy of the republican party. i think she's so out of step with the rest of the republican party coming to grips with the fact that this progress has been made so successfully in such a short amount of time that she will find herself in a position where she'll be turning off more voters than she'll be gaining. >> here's the dangerous thing

about michele bachmann in my opinion. during the debate, she talked about bhaum care obama care, is called it. how do we know she doesn't feel this way about an anti-gay agenda? >> one of the things she's been careful 20 do is talk about state by state and it's up to each state. she probably knows that she'll never be able to pass a constitutional amendment, that scares her so she'll keep working that angle. at the same time she will go after that agenda. these contradictions will keep coming up for her, i think it's going to cause her a lot of problems. >> michelle obama was criticized by some for statements while campaigning for her husband. i mean, is marcus bachman going to get the same treatment? >> to be honest, i think he deserves more of that treatment than michelle obama does. one thing michele bachmann has said, she believes in a

fundamentalist model of marriage. she believes he is the head of family and she needs to be sub missive to him. his views have more of a bearing on what she thinks than another presidential candidate. she's in a difficult position, mike is right, that we have republicans here in new york who fought for marriage equality. on the hole, the republican party, especially in the red states is dominated by extreme social conservatives. anyone who wants to attack michele bachmann from the right is going to have a difficult time in a philosophy that is to the right. >> michelle goldberg, mike rodgers, thanks for being with us tonight. >> senator james inhofe introduces the pilots bill of rights. it may have a little something to do with senator in hoff's

wild dangerous landing at a texas airport last year. a fox business host comes up with a new attack on president obama. david is going after him for getting a college scholarship. breaking news reported tonight by the washington post quoting the newspaper, president obama is it pressing congressional leaders to consider a far reaching debt reduction plan that would force democrats to accept major changes to social security and medicare, in exchange for republican support for fresh tax revenue. we will talk about it, it's a big twist in the budget debate.

welcome back to the ed show, senator james inhofe has introduced something called the pilot's bill of rights. i'm a pilot, i'm all ears. you see, senator inhofe is the pilot who made a dangerous, completely wrong headed landing at an airport last october. it was at the cameron county airport in texas, where he landed on a runway closed for repair. see, the runway had a large x on it. and was full of construction workers who literally ran for their lives as inhofe just hopscotched over them according to a construction supervisor. the airport manager said this -- >> i've got over 50 years

flying, three tours in vietnam. and i can assure you i have never seen such a reckless disregard for human life in my life. >> when mr. inhofe got out of the plane he reportedly said, what the [ bleep ] is this, i was supposed to have limited airspace. that has nothing to do with an x on the runway, my friend. the faa gave inhofe a huge break compared to any other pilot that may have done that. saying his sanction would be remedial training instead of supervision. inhofe is indignant saying, i did nothing wrong, but at the time i could have suffered is the revocation of a license. did nothing wrong, really? he says the faa is guilty of agency overreach. and he's introducing this bill. the pilot's bill of rights? we're supposed to be excited about that. not because it has any chance of passing, but because he feels

privileged and he's bitter, and he wants revenge. and he's using his position to try to leverage that. listen up, folks. i have 2500 hours and i've never landed on a runway that has an x on it. that x is there to say, hey, don't land here. the fact that there were actually workers on the runway tells me, senator you gotta get your eyes checked. it's probably easier for you to introduce legislation and make a news story out of it than it is for you to pass the test again. major news tonight from the washington post, they say the president will push congressional lead hes on a deal to cut spending on social security and medicare, in exchange for increased tax revenues, how will progressives react to this one? up next, sam stein at the huffington post, we'll talk about it.

president obama used today's twitter town hall to push for a solution to the country's debt crisis. breaking news from the washington post tonight indicating that the president is considering a deal that would force major changes to social security and medicare. we'll have more on that with "huffington post" sam stein in just a moment. earlier today, the president had strong words for republicans, threatening to default on our nation's debt. >> never in our history has the united states defaulted on its debt. the debt ceiling should not be something that is used as a gun against the heads of the american people to extract tax breaks for corporate jet owners. >> how interesting it got. one of the questions posed was from a tweet by house speaker john boehner. the republicans should be asking themselves where are the jobs. >> there's some areas where the republicans have been more

resistant in cooperating, even though most objective observers think it's the right thing to do. i'll give you a specific example. it's estimated that we have about $2 trillion worth of infrastructure that needs to be rebuilt. we haven't gotten the kind of cooperation that i'd like to see on some of those ideas and initiatives, i'm going to keep on trying and eventually i'm sure the speaker will see the light. >> mr. president that is soft talking in the arena of rigidness and record number of filibusters. i don't get your position. while the speaker and other republican leaders pretend the party is united in opposing new government spending, the new republicans in congress, you know what they're doing? quietly trying to secure millions of government dollars. no fewer than a dirty dozen freshman republicans in the house lobbied to get government funds for their districts while publicly shouting about reckless federal spending. joining me tonight is sam stein,

political reporter for the huffington post who reported on that story. good evening, sam. first off, we have to ask you for your thoughts about, what do you make of washington post report tonight that tomorrow's meeting with the house and senate leaders, the president is going to be pushing for entitlement cuts in exchange for republican support for tax cuts? what do you make of this tonight? >> it's a big deal. it's a new development obviously in these negotiations. we have to consider where these started with near unanimous agreement that the debt ceiling should be raised by both speaker boehner's office and the presidency. at first the white house was insists on a clean vote, now we've gone to the point where we're mimicking the bowles simpson plan. whether you're talking about raising the retirement age or means testing, for instance. those are major concessions that are going to rang wrangle a lot

of democrats. >> why would the president go down this road when he has overwhelming support from the american people on medicare, medicaid and raising taxes on the wealthiest americans. why would the president go down this road? is he that fearful of a government shutdown? >> i think that's part of it. it would be cataclysmic if the government defaults on the debt. they like the idea of a big deal, they like to be the ones who are labelled as the serious deficit reducers. so i think they like that. >> let's remember the democratic leaders have said social security is off the table. >> exactly. >> how are -- are they going to agree with this? >> i think it undermines the party in two respects, one is on social security which should have been off the table and is supposed to be off the table.

secondly, medicare. a lesson learned from the recent special election is that medicare cuts were an effective campaigning tool for democrats. i want to cut medicare on the supplier side not the benefits side. that's a distinction that's tough to sell, and i don't think that democrats are going to be happy to make it. >> i think this is a huge victory for the republicans. we now have the capitulator in chief. this goes beyond deal making. >> we have to see what's in the details. >> here's the detail. the detail we know is that the republicans are never going to cave in on tax cuts. >> yeah. >> the other fact of the matter is,the american people are with the president on this. he doesn't have to negotiate, he is in a position of strength. and i think it's better for him to run out the clock than it is to turn on the majority of the american people. and also undercut the democratic strong hold of what's made this nation fantastic, which is

medicare, medicaid and social security. >> he's going to come up with a plan, and he's going to go to the democratic party, members in the congress and say, if you don't vote for this, you are basically sending us into default and undermining my presidency. there's been a tough choice for those house members who say social security and medicare should be off the table. do they go and not support the president on this? i don't see them making that vote. >> they're at the trough, they're sucking this money right up, aren't they? >> i thought you would never ask about my start. we did a longstanding research on this. we filed a freedom of information act request to see what freshman republicans are requesting. away from the spotlight, a lot of them are petitioning the department of transportation and department of agriculture for millions of dollars. many and district means jobs and districts. the problem is, these people

literally days later would go around and say america has run out its credit card. there's irresponsible fiscal spending going on. there's a hypocrisy of it. the more important element is, these people admit, infrastructure spending is good for job creation. the problem,they won't support a broader infrastructure package that can cut that $2 trillion hole. >> sam stein, great to have you with us tonight. excellent report as always. fox business host david asman goes after president obama for accepting a scholarship to college. network. a living, breathing intelligence that's helping drive the future of business. in here, inventory can be taught to learn. ♪ machines have a voice. ♪ medical history follows you. it's the at&t network -- a network of possibilities... committed to delivering the most advanced mobile broadband experience

to help move business... forward. ♪ and today, we're re-inventing aspirin for pain relief. with new extra-strength bayer advanced aspirin. it has microparticles so it enters the bloodstream faster and rushes relief right to the site of your tough pain. ♪ in fact, it's clinically proven to relieve pain twice as fast. new bayer advanced aspirin. extra strength pain relief, twice as fast. louie gomert found a new target for anti-obama anger. the recent release of the white house salary report. white house staffers make between 40,000 and 172,000 a year. many of them haven't had a raise since president obama's inauguration.

but louie gomer doesn't let facts get in the way of a good rant. last month he accused the president of helping islamic terrorists. now he's going after folks on the low end of the white house payroll. >> this administration doesn't have anybody making less than $40,000. i guess there's just so much greatness when you're associated with this white house, you deserved to be paid more. i don't know. >> we're scrolling while we speak. >> don't forget the 34 czars that are out there dictating policy, and let's face it, garrett. when you're a dictator, you need to be paid more. and i am being sarcastic. >> typical republican talk. gomert's attacking the people making 40 grand a year, while he give tax breaks to wall street. and i want to point out that louie gomert makes more money in

his government job than the highest paid white house staffer, he rakes in $174,000 a year to twiddle his thumbs alongside republican buddies, with no jobs bill in sight. he doesn't have a clue or a leg to stand on. his rambling wasn't enough to make it to psycho talk tonight. that belongs to david aspen. one log in lets you monitor all of your balances and transfer between accounts, so your money can move as fast as you do. check out your portfolio, track the market with live updates. and execute trades anywhere and anytime the inspiration hits you. even deposit checks right from your phone. just take a picture, hit deposit and you're done. open an account today and put schwab mobile to work for you.

in psycho talk tonight. david aspen slams president obama for being proeducation. the government should not help kids pay for college. >> successful people almost always tend to think the route they took to success is the right route for everybody. maybe that's why president obama is so insistent the government should guarantee everybody a college education. there's no doubt that obama himself used education to become successful. he gained the education for years, using scholarships and

various connections to rise up in his field. >> taking advantage of scholarships is gaming the system. middle classers, do you agree with that? these days an instate school will run you more than $12,000 a year, private schools are more than 30 grand a year. if aspen had his way, and we did away with scholarships and government aide, many families would never be able to afford to send their kids to college. aspen had no problem with the way president obama's predecessor got into college. his lucky membership got him into yale. but it's president obama who got all the breaks. wisconsin supreme court justice david prosser accused of putting a female justice in a choke hold? the latest on that story, plus the wisconsin recall fight, john nichols with us next.

ask me.

even if you think your mattresses is just fine, ask me what it's like to get your best night's sleep every night. why not talk to someone who's sleeping on the most highly recommended bed in america.™ it's not a sealy or a simmons or a serta. ask me about my tempur-pedic. ask me how fast i fall asleep. these are actual tempur-pedic owners. ask someone you know. try your friends on facebook. you'll hear it all. unedited. ask me how it feels after 10 years. just ask me. there are over 4 million tempur-pedic owners, and they're more satisfied than owners of any traditional mattress brand. ask me why someone who's never had an ache or a pain is in love with this bed. start asking real owners. find out what you've been missing. right now, you can buy a tempur-pedic mattress set and save up to $200. plus, take advantage of our 4 years special financing. visit tempurpedic.com for full details on our mattress set savings event and 4 years special financing. don't wait-offer ends soon. visit tempurpedic.com now.

i want you to be a part of this. i'm asking for your help, msnbc and the ed show are teaming up with the national association of free clinics and holding a health clinic on august 29th in new orleans, louisiana. your donations have helped thousands of patients get the health care they need. to make a donation or learn more about volunteering at the new orleans clinic, visit their website at free clinics.u.s. and can you also use the word health, text the word health to 50555 to make a $10 donation by cell phone. please do it. next up, the state of justice in wisconsin. you won't believe it. but i did. they said i couldn't fight above my weight class. but i did. they said i couldn't get elected to congress. but i did.

♪ sometimes when we touch ha ha! millions of hits! [ male announcer ] flick, stack, and move between active apps seamlessly. only on the new hp touchpad with webos. [ male announcer ] the davis twins... ...are alike in nearly every way... ...right down to brushing their teeth. so how did only one get gingivitis? well, one in two people do. so i told karen about new crest pro-health

clinical gum protection toothpaste. it helps eliminate plaque at the gumline, helping prevent gingivitis. it's even clinically proven to help reverse it in just 4 weeks. and it protects these other areas dentists check most. looks like the twins are even again. new crest pro-health clinical toothpaste. life opens up when you do. welcome back to the ed show, finally tonight the pressure is mounting for wisconsin supreme court justice david prosser to take a leave of absence during an investigation into whether he physically assaulted a female justice on the court. half a dozen women's groups have called on prosser to step aside. and so have elected officials, a letter for many of the dane county supervisors asked prosser to take a leave of absence until the sheriff's investigation is complete. if he is found guilty of assault and does not resign, they will

seek his removal. prosser is accused of assaulting another justice on the court in a discussion in her office with others present, ann walsh bradley. justice bradley said this -- this to the milwaukee journal cen continual. her quote was, the facts are, i was demanding he get out of my office and he put his hands around my neck in anger in a choke hold. the argument was over. governor scott walker's anti-labor legislation, of course, because of his anti-worker agenda, there are recall efforts underway to get rid of republican lawmakers responsible for passing that legislation. it gives you an idea just how heated the discussion was in the offices of the supreme court of wisconsin that allegedly mr. prosser would do this to a fellow justice. let's bring in john nichols of the nation magazine and madison city councilmember lisa sobeck. who is also the executive

director of naril wisconsin. there are witnesses to this, what is there to investigate? >> you knowing i'm not sure. certainly the investigators are working on getting the witness statements. and our hope is that justice prosser will step down, take a leave of absence just as any other plea would be expected to. >> if he is found guilty, how would you remove him? >> he should absolutely resign. >> john nichols, what's the atmosphere surrounding this story in wisconsin? >> it's one of the most intense stories i've ever been around. there's a divide around this story, the fact of the matter is, that ann walsh bradley is one of the most respected jurors in wisconsin. she's never had a blemish on her name. never any controversy associated

with her. justice david prosser a far more controversial figure. someone you've reported on a good deal in the show, who called the chief justice of the supreme court a [ bleep ] and said he was going to destroy her, and acknowledged doing that. now he stands accused of this attack. his defenders have been incredibly brutal in their criticisms of ann walsh bradley, and it's created a very painful circumstance where a lot of wisconsinites who know both these people are trying to sort it out, and really having, i think a lot of people having a hard time imagining some of the things that are being said about ann walsh bradley. >> lisa, they're saying that the justice bradley initiated this confrontation. what about that? >> you know, i -- i think that's a case of blaming the victim. i think that way too often when

someone is abusive toward another individual, particularly when a man is abusive toward a woman in the workplace, the instinct is to blame the victim. that's what's happening here, justice bradley's story came out, she was the victim of an act of violence. and go forth and justice prosser comes along and says, you know what, it's her fault. i think it's another case of blaming. >> first it went to the capital police, then it was referred to the sheriff's department. john nichols, where is this? is this taking a political twist in this investigation? >> i don't think so, ed. there's two investigations going on. one is being handled by the dane county sheriff's department. this operation has some terrific investigators, highly respected, not just in wisconsin, but nationally. they're on the case, doing the interviews as they should. additionally there's a state judicial commission that has a responsibility to look at issues of this sort. it's not a policing agency, it's more of an internal one, but

they're also looking at it, two investigations going-forward. i think the question that's being asked now is, how long is this going to take? it shouldn't take that long to ask these questions. >> how many people would get away with putting their hands where she claims he put them in a choke hold. her quote was a choke hold. what is there to invest gate in a workplace? >> well -- >> go ahead, lisa. >> he should not get away with it, and quite frankly in any other workplace, if someone were accused of putting a co-worker in a choke hold, they would immediately be removed from their position, even if there was an investigation going on, they would not be allowed to continue to work with that person. >> john nichols of "the nation" magazine and lisa subek. thank you for joining us tonight. we will follow this story. the investigation continues. tonight in our surveying i asked, do republicans care more about helping children or millionaires?